1880

When the United States took over the New Mexico territory, they brought the railroad, whose surveyors and engineers established “Grant’s Camp” now simply known as Grants. As the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroads were pushing their way slowly westward, a paymaster named David Gallup established a small company headquarters along the projected route. Rail workers soon began “going to Gallup” to collect their pay, and when the tracks were finally laid through the area in 1881, the new settlement was formally named Gallup, in honor of the well-known paymaster.